Brand Consistency: Why Maintaining Your Brand Image Is Important
As a small business owner, you’ve likely heard a lot about brand consistency and how essential it is to build a strong brand.
But why is brand consistency so important?
With an internet that is more crowded than ever, it’s harder for people to remember the brands they come across daily. Imagine that a business you follow frequently changes its style, messaging, or visuals. If their brand elements are constantly changing (even if it is unintentional or subtle), it makes it harder for their readers to recognize or remember their brand.
In small businesses, these changes frequently occur when the individual working on a new project doesn’t remember the exact colors or fonts used in prior projects. For example, maybe their logo is usually a specific shade of navy blue, but because a co-worker doesn’t remember exactly which shade was used, they use a shade they think is close. Or maybe they’ve always used Helvetica for headers, but then you receive a newsletter from them using Times New Roman for headers. Readers, who already associate newsletters with Helvetica headers for that particular brand, will be confused.
In this article, I’ll explain why brand consistency is so important for growing your business.
What is brand consistency?
Brand consistency means presenting your brand’s elements—such as voice, messaging, and visuals—in a uniform way. When your brand appears consistent across all marketing platforms, it strengthens how people perceive your brand.
Every brand has a distinct personality that is conveyed through its brand elements.
Are you energetic or calm?
Is your style minimal or decorative?
Do you talk to clients in a funny or serious way?
Whatever way you choose to express your unique personality to your audience, it needs to stay consistent.
Think of it like a relationship. If someone you’re dating is funny one day, serious the next, and angry the day after that, you’ll be on edge constantly, not knowing what to expect. The same is true for your brand. The more consistent your brand messaging and visual identity are, the stronger your brand will be and the better you’ll be able to connect with your audience.
Why is maintaining a brand image so Important?
Brand consistency is more than just the brand visuals—it includes messaging and behavior.
Here are three key reasons why maintaining a consistent brand image matters:
1. Brand consistency builds trust
A strong brand lets your clients know what to expect from your brand. Perhaps one of the best ways to recognize how important brand consistency is for building trust is to consider what happens when a brand is not consistent.
For example, imagine you shop at a store that sells only organic food. You love their clean, natural branding, and it is one of the main reasons you continue to go back to that store—you know what to expect. But one day, you notice unhealthy, processed foods on their shelves, and their branding has changed. You’d likely feel disappointed and lose trust in the brand.
To build trust, ensure that all your services and marketing materials align with your brand message.
According to Forbes, consistent presentation of your brand across all platforms can significantly increase a company’s bottom line:
“Brand consistency can increase revenue by up to 23%.”
2. Brand consistency builds awareness
Your brand’s visual identity—logo, fonts, colors, and imagery—plays a key role in brand recognition. A consistent look helps people remember your business. Repetition reinforces recognition, much like how we learned the multiplication tables as kids.
A consistent visual identity establishes a visual standard for your brand. In other words, every time a person experiences your brand visually, you want them to see the same thing because you are building an association in his or her mind. The stronger that association becomes, the quicker people will recognize your brand.
Forbes also cited that the use of color can help a brand stand out and markedly increase brand recognition:
“Color improves brand recognition by up to 80%.”
Colors are associated with emotions. So, it should come as no surprise that the consistent use of color in a visual identity will be remembered by readers. For example, Whole Foods built a strong brand identity. When you hear the name Whole Foods, what color comes to mind? The color green probably came to mind. That’s because Whole Foods uses green as its brand color and has established that association in your mind through consistent branding efforts. You expect to see any communications from Whole Foods in that specific green color—not red or yellow. That is how brand awareness is established.
3. Brand consistency builds authority
When your audience becomes familiar with your brand, you can use that trust to establish authority. To achieve brand authority, show that you understand your client’s problems by sharing insights and content that is helpful to them. By sharing your expertise, you send a message to potential clients that you are knowledgeable, understand their challenges, and can help solve their problems. This reinforces your standing as a trusted expert within your industry.
How to maintain a consistent brand
To ensure that your brand remains consistent across all platforms, consider creating a brand style guide and a brand board:
Brand Style Guide: A brand style guide is an essential document that outlines your brand’s visual and messaging elements. It includes your ideal clients, brand purpose, vision, mission, values, personality (voice, tone, etc.), and visual style (logos, colors, fonts, typography, imagery, etc.). A comprehensive brand style guide helps maintain consistency across all marketing materials and communications.
For example, I offer two small business branding packages that include either a one-page brand style guide or a 10-12-page brand style guide with additional pages as necessary. These guides keep all your branding information in one convenient location.
Brand Board: A brand board is a simplified version of a brand style guide that provides a quick reference for your brand’s key visual elements. It typically includes your logo, brand colors, typography, and imagery. A brand board is useful to ensure that all marketing materials align with the look and feel specified in your brand style.
I always include a brand board in the branding packages I offer. Most of my clients tell me that they appreciate how the brand board provides an opportunity to review the overall look and feel of the brand throughout the design process.
Here is an example of a brand board.
No matter the size of your business, whether you’re running a one-person business or a large corporation, you should have a brand style guide and brand board to help maintain a cohesive and professional appearance. Having these resources ensures that your brand stays consistent whether you’re creating a new website, social media graphics, or marketing materials. They are also a big time saver for anyone in your company who creates the marketing materials since they won’t have to backtrack to find out what visual elements were used in prior projects.
Conclusion
Your branding has a great emotional impact on your clients and it’s often the reason why people make the decision to use your services. Building brand awareness takes time, but with the consistent use of your visual elements, your efforts will eventually pay off with a larger, more engaged audience who are able to easily identify your brand.
I hope this article helps you understand why brand consistency is important.
If you need help creating a cohesive brand to grow your business, I’d love to help. Check out my brand identity design services or contact me to schedule a discovery call.
